Top to bottom, it's the Old 97's' definitive album — maybe because the band had nothing to lose.

That's direct from frontman Rhett Miller's mouth to your ears about “Too Far to Care,” which he wrote and came out in 1997.

The legendary Dallas alt-country band is on the road playing the album (its first for a major label) in its entirety to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its release.

Old 97's arrives at Sam's Burger Joint on Saturday. Miller opens. The bill also includes Nashville-based Those Darlins. The tour launched this week.

Miller, who acknowledged that he's not a particularly nostalgic fellow, says the timing is right to celebrate the breakthrough album.

“I love ‘Too Far to Care,'” he said. “It's probably my favorite top-to-bottom album. In a way, ‘Too Far To Care' was this magical moment before we really realized what the stakes were. There's innocence to our band at the time, sort of a naïveté.”

But a breakout moment can create a backlash and Old 97's (loved for its hybrid of power pop, punk and bar-band panache) was suddenly being called too commercial.

“You listen to that record and it's not like it sounds like some big-time sellout,” Miller said. “But also, we were always trying to have commercial success, in as much as we thought we could. We wanted people to like our band and come see us play and buy our records. Isn't that the nature of the whole thing?”

At the time, 15 major labels were trying to sign the band. The bidding war reached ridiculous proportions.

“We ate so many fancy dinners, it's amazing we all didn't gain 30 pounds,” he joked. “It was crazy time, a fun time. Suddenly, we were the band that was blowing up.”

Produced by Wally Gagel, “Too Far to Care” swaggered out of the gate with heartache songs such as “Timebomb,” “Barrier Reef,” “Streets of Where I'm From and “Big Brown Eyes.”

Omnivore Recordings is planning a special 15th anniversary fall release. It will mark the first time “Too Far to Care” is available on vinyl, too.

The record reveled in a big, raw rock 'n' roll sound. Miller credits Gagel for the huge guitar tones and drum heft. On later albums, producer Salim Nourallah functions closer to an arranger and songwriting sounding board.

For his opening set, Miller's preparation is mostly tuning his acoustic guitar a full step down. He's promoting a new album, “The Dreamer,” which includes a duet with Roseanne Cash, “As Close As I Came to Being Right.”

How does Miller, a songwriter who's happiest singing sad songs, determine what he keeps for his solo albums? Typically, someone in the band will say, “‘Well, that's going to be good for your solo record,'” Miller explained.

“Usually, that's what my solo records are, songs that the band turned down.”